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THE  HOSPITAL  CORPS 
OF  THE  NAVY 


1917 


A  AT 

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N.  M.  S. 127624 
January,  1917. 


THE  HOSPITAL  CORPS  OF  THE  NAVY. 


AN  OPPORTUNITY  FOR  YOUNG  MEN  SEEKING  A  DESIRABLE  PRO- 
FESSIONAL CALLING  AND  AN  OCCUPATION  WITH  SATISFACTORY 
PAY,  EDUCATIONAL  POSSIBILITIES,  AND  FUTURE  POSITION. 


Young  men  who  desire  to  take  up  a  calling  where  a  satisfactory 
wage  is  obtained  immediately  and  where  there  is  every  opportunity 
for  advancement,  instruction,  education,  and  pleasant  duty,  combined 
with  travel  to  foreign  lands,  or  who  contemplate  the  study  of  nursing 
or  other  allied  subject,  are  invited  to  consider  the  Hospital  Corps  of 
the  Navy  as  a  field  for  employment  or  elementary  training. 

Hospital  Corps  Training  School 


TRANSPORTATION  OF  WOUNDED. 


Graduates  of  training  schools  for  nurses  of  civil  hospitals  or  men 
who  have  served  as  attendants  in  hospitals  or  institutions,  graduates 
in  pharmacy,  first-aid  workers,  etc.,  will  find  in  this  branch  of  the 
naval  service  an  opening  to  pursue  their  chosen  profession  with 
added  training  and  inducement. 

(3) 


3G7G4G 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

Service  in  the  Hospital  Corps  may  be  undertaken  as  a  life  work, 
as  the  hospital  apprentice  may  advance  by  gradual  steps  to  the  high- 
est enlisted  rating  of  chief  pharmacist's  mate  (chief  petty  officer),  and 
those  who  have  the  required  qualifications  and  ability  may  further 
advance  to  warrant  officer  (pharmacist)  and  eventually,  if  successful, 
to  the  commisioned  grade  of  chief  pharmacist,  with  the  rank  of 
ensign,  and  ultimately,  according  to  length  of  service,  the  pay 
and  emoluments  of  lieutenant  (i.  e.,  from  the  lowest  enlisted  rating 
to  commissioned  rank) ,  which  position  he  holds  for  life,  with  retire- 
ment on  satisfactory  pay  upon  reaching  the  age  of  64  years. 

Hospital  Corps  Training  School. 


FIRST-AID  IN  THE  FIELD. 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy  constitutes  the  largest  portion  of 
the  medical  department,  whose  members,  together  with  the  medical 
officers,  represent  the  general  medical,  sanitary,  public  health  forces 
(as  represented  by  practitioners  and  board  of  health)  available  to 
any  community,  applied  to  the  Navy.  The  men  are  for  the  most 
part  young  men  from  18  to  45  years  of  age,  of  ability,  good  health, 
and  exemplary  habits. 

A  clean  body,  good  character,  a  clear  head,  and  alertness  are 
requisite  for  success.  No  person  temperamentally  unfitted  for  this 
class  of  work  will  long  remain.  No  person  who  is  addicted  to  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors  or  drugs  or  who  at  any  time  shows  evi- 


(4) 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

dence  of  intemperance  or  the  morbid  use  of  drugs  (drug  habitues) 
can  be  tolerated,  enlisted,  or  retained  in  this  corps. 

The  work  of  the  Hospital  Corps  consists  in  attendance  upon  the 
sick  of  the  Navy  and  Marine  Corps,  both  officers  and  men,  in  naval 

Hospital  Corps  Training  School. 


INSTRUCTION  IN  FIRST-AID. 


Hospital  Corps  Training  School 


^>/L.J r.; 

ytf ,     '•  ^A«A*jt««*»«A» 


FIRST-AID  DRILL. 


hospitals,  naval  shore  stations,  on  board  ships,  and  upon  expeditions 
of  the  Marine  Corps.  The  service  is  not  attended  by  particularly 
arduous  duties  and  fits  the  members  of  the  corps  for  future  work  in 
connection  with  their  profession  within  and  without  the  naval  service. 

(5) 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

The  work  and  duty  of  the  Hospital  Corps  is  of  a  distinct  character 
peculiar  to  itself.  No  calling  in  civil  life  is  similar  to  it,  and  there- 
fore men  must  be  trained  for  the  work  through  the  medium  of  actual 
experience  in  performing  this  duty.  The  duty  is  not  along  any  one 
line  but  is  a  combination  of  lines,  the  arrangement  varying  with  the 
circumstances.  It  is  therefore  plain  that  enlistment  of  men  as 
pharmacist,  drug  clerk,  druggist,  embalmer,  etc.,  as  such  can  not  be 
practicable ;  yet  persons  having  such  an  education  or  experience  are 
given  most  favorable  consideration  when  applying  for  enlistment. 
Such  men  will  find  their  previous  training  and  experience  of  greatest 
value  in  performance  of  duty  or  when  seeking  advancement  and 

Hospital  Cor*  s  Training  School 


CLASS    IN    SESSION. 


from  time  to  time  an  opportunity  to  put  their  knowledge  or  ability 
to  use. 

Referring  to  the  duties  in  brief,  hospital  corpsmen  act  as  nurses 
to  the  sick,  administer  first-aid  to  accident  cases,  accompany  expe- 
ditionary forces  giving  first-aid  to  injured  and  wounded,  or  such 
other  first-aid  treatment  as  may  be  indicated,  assist  at  surgical  opera- 
tions, care  of  the  medical  stores  and  property,  and  compound  medi- 
cines as  is  done  in  a  civil  drug  store. 

Some  men  take  up  and  become  proficient  in  chemistry,  pharmacy, 
commissary  work,  X-ray,  bacteriological  work.  Many  of  these  men 


(6) 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

in  later  years,  as  a  result  of  their  training  and  specialization,  are 
able  to  and  do  accept  positions  in  laboratories  of  manufacturing  con- 
cerns and  return  to  civil  life,  having  satisfied  their  desire  for  travel, 
and  at  the  same  time  have  learned  a  trade  and  served  their  country. 

The  work  being  of  a  more  or  less  special  type,  it  is  necessary  for 
the  hospital  corpsman  to  receive  a  preliminary  course  of  instruc- 
tion prior  to  undertaking  the  work  in  general  service.  For  this 
purpose  three  training  schools  for  the  Hospital  Corps  have  been 
established,  one  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  one  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
one  on  the  Great  Lakes,  to  one  of  which  the  newly  enlisted  man  is 
detailed  and  where  he  remains  for  a  period  of  about  six  months  under 

Hospital  Corps  Training  School. 


CLASS    IN    HISTOLOGY,  PATHOLOGY,  AND    BACTERIOLOGY. 

instruction  and  is  started  upon  his  naval  career  on  a  sound  basis 
and  with  a  knowledge  of  and  training  in  his  special  field  and  duty. 

While  these  courses  are  all  elementary  in  character  a  sufficient 
amount  of  matter  is  gone  over  to  give  a  sound  basis  upon  which 
future  study  may  be  pursued.  The  course  consists  of  instruction  in 
the  following  subjects: 

Anatomy  and  physiology. — In  this  course  the  student  receives  gen- 
eral instruction  upon  the  structure  of  the  human  body  and  the  func- 
tions of  its  organs  and  muscles  and  nerve  tissues,  affording  sufficient 
knowledge  about  the  human  body  to  make  possible  intelligent  under- 
standing of  the  care  necessary  in  attending  it  when  diseased. 

(7) 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

General  nursing,  -first-aid,  emergency  surgery,  operating  room  and 
surgical  technic. — In  this  course  it  is  endeavored  to  give  didacti- 
cally a  theory  of  nursing  of  both  surgical  and  medical  cases,  proper 
attendance  upon  the  sick  individual,  his  bed,  his  diet,  etc.,  a  clear 
presentation  of  antiseptics  and  asepsis,  general  cleanliness  in  relation 
to  surgical  procedures,  how  to  assist  an  operator  at  a  surgical  opera- 
tion, the  application  of  dressings  to  first-aid  and  accident  cases,  both 
in  the  hospital  and  in  the  field  with  an  expeditionary  force. 

Hygiene  and  sanitation,  both  general  and  field;  diets,  food,  and  the 
cooking  and  preparation  of  foods;  the  serving  of  foods  to  patients. — 
In  this  course  an  elementary  introduction  to  hygiene,  hygienic  meas- 

Hospilal  Corps  Traiiiif  School 


ACCOUNTING  OF  MEDICAL  STORES. 


ures,  both  in  the  hospital,  on  the  station  or  ship,  personal  hygiene, 
how  to  protect  against  diseases,  fumigation,  the  application  of  anti- 
septics, ventilation,  etc.,  the  proper  selection  of  food  for  the  sick,  its 
preparation,  cooking,  and  proper  serving  to  sick  people. 

Pharmacy,  materia  medica,  chemistry,  toxicology. — In  this  course 
an  elementary  knowledge  of  pharmacy,  with  simple  compounding  of 
prescriptions,  administration  and  proper  doses  of  simple  medicines, 
a  knowledge  of  the  poisonous  drugs  used  in  medicine  and  their 
physiological  effects,  elementary  chemistry,  and  the  performance  of 
simple  chemical  tests  and  other  matters  along  this  line  which  come 
within  the  purview  of  the  hospital  corpsman. 

(8) 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

A  general  introduction  to  the  duties  within  a  hospital,  in  a  ward, 
and  the  sick  bays,  with  relation  to  their  proper  ventilation,  cleanli- 
ness, neatness,  quietness,  and  appropriate  care  of  persons  confined 
therein. 

Hospital  Corps  Training  School. 


RECREATION  ROOM. 

Hospital  Corps  Training  School. 


FIRST-AID  WORK  IN  THE  FIELD. 


To  those  who  show  aptitude  and  special  qualifications,  enthusiasm, 
and  a  desire  to  undertake  particular  duty,  special  courses  in  bac- 
teriology, chemistry,  laboratory,  blood  examination,  and  special  ex- 

(9) 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

animations  pertaining  to  medico-laboratory  work  are  afforded,  by 
means  of  which  bright  young  men  are  able  to  avail  themselves  of  an 
unusual  opportunity  for  instruction  along  these  lines. 

Upon  first  reporting  at  the  training  station  where  the  school  is 
established  a  recruit  is  assigned  to  the  seaman  brigade  for  about 
three  weeks  to  receive  instruction  in  the  care  of  his  clothing  and 
effects  and  general  duties  which  pertain  to  the  military  side  of  the 
work.  Upon  completion  of  this  three  weeks  of  instruction  he  is 
immediately  detailed  to  the  training  school  for  the  Hospital  Corps, 
where  provisions  are  made  for  the  stowage  of  his  effects,  placing  of 
his  hammock  for  sleep  at  night,  and  obtaining  his  food.  The  school 
is  under  the  immediate  charge  of  a  medical  officer  and  his  several 

Hospital  Corps  Training  School. 


APPLICATION  OF  HEAD  BANDAGE  IN 
EMERGENCY. 


assistants,  who  are  usually  chief  petty  officers  of  the  Hospital  Corps, 
and  every  effort  is  made  to  bring  about  a  feeling  of  contentment  and 
satisfaction,  enthusiasm  for  the  work,  kindly  suggestion,  and  advice, 
with  special  reference  not  only  to  the  professional  work  but  to  the 
advisability  of  the  candidate  continuing  should  his  aptitude  for  this 
special  branch  appear  not  to  be  marked. 

In  a  few  cases  it  has  been  found  that  a  few  men  after  reporting  at 
the  school  show,  either  from  a  lack  of  preliminary  education  or  from 
a  distaste  for  this  particular  duty,  an  inaptitude  for  the  Hospital 
Corps.  The  circumstances  are  kindly  brought  to  the  attention  of 
the  apprentice  and  an  opportunity  afforded  him  to  change  to  another 
branch  or  leave  the  service.  Every  kindness  and  encouragement  is 


(10) 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

shown  the  apprentice,  and  every  effort  is  put  forth  to  make  him  feel 
at  home. 

Upon  completion  of  this  course  of  training  at  the  school  the  ap- 
prentice is  detailed  to  one  of  the  naval  hospitals  for  a  further  period 
of  practical  instruction  in  actual  performance  of  duty. 

In  the  hospitals  the  apprentice  is  afforded  the  actual  experience 
in  the  practical  application  of  the  instructions  he  has  received  at 
the  school  in  caring  for,  nursing  and  feeding  of  patients,  caring  for 


THE  WORK  IN   DISTANT  POSSESSIONS  IS  AN   IMPORTANT  AND   INTERESTING   FEATURE. 

the  property  of  the  medical  department,  preparation  of  surgical  and 
other  dressings,  and  attendance  upon  surgical  operations.  Those 
specially  versed  or  who  show  particular  aptitude  are  assigned  to 
special  detail,  such  as  laboratory,  X-ray,  stenographers  and  re- 
corders, pharmaceutical  work,  etc.  He  remains  at  the  hospital  about 
six  months,  when  he  is  then  detailed  to  a  sea-going  ship,  where  he 
continues  to  perform  a  similar  duty,  using  his  knowledge  which  has 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

been  obtained  under  more  favorable  circumstances  to  meet  the  diffi- 
culties and  unusualness  of  the  work  on  board  ship. 

When  serving  with  the  Marine  Corps,  members  of  the  Hospital 
Corps  are  frequently  assigned  to  expeditionary  forces  operating  on 
foreign  shores.  In  this  work  many  unusual  and  interesting  experi- 
ences are  encountered  and  frequently  unusual  opportunities  afforded. 
Many  members  of  the  Hospital  Corps  operating  with  these  forces 
have  been  awarded  medals  and  letters  of  commendation  for  the  excel- 
lence of  their  work. 

Owing  to  the  high  character  of  the  work  required  of  the  Hospital 
Corps  and  the  future  opportunities  available  to  men  of  the  corps, 


A  SICK  BAY  (WARD)  ON  BOARD  A  BATTLESHIP. 

pains  are  taken  to  encourage  men  of  highest  qualifications  to  enter  it. 
A  fairly  complete  preliminary  general  education  will  be  found  not 
only  desirable  but  also  necessary,  should  the  applicant  desire  con- 
tinuous advancement.  Those  who  have  such  an  education  may 
advance  themselves  steadily  to  the  highest  rating.  For  those,  how- 
ever, who  are  not  so  well  versed  every  opportunity  is  afforded  them 
to  study  and  perfect  themselves  under  the  helpful  guidance  of  medi- 
cal officers,  with  a  view  to  their  future  advancement  when  qualified 
for  the  ratings  they  seek.  The  highest  efficiency  in  the  medical  de- 
partment is  dependent  upon  sufficient  education  and  training,  and 

(12) 


it 


(13) 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

therefore  every  effort  is  bent  toward  such  development,  and  the 
hospital  corpsmen  therefore  have  distinct  advantages  constantly 
before  them  for  obtaining  information  and  instruction  in  their 
profession. 

Enlistment. — Men  may  present  themselves  for  enlistment  at  any 
Navy  recruiting  station,  navy  yard,  naval  station,  or  on  board  naval 
vessels  having  a  medical  officer  on  board.  They  should  state  their 
desire  to  enlist  in  the  Hospital  Corps,  giving  their  qualifications  and 


OPERATING  ROOM  ON  BOARD  A  BATTLESHIP. 

previous  experience  or  training,  if  any.  The  medical  officer  will  give 
them  the  usual  required  educational  and  professional  examination 
and  the  applicant  will  be  advised  in  the  matter. 

Rates  of  Pay  of  Hospital  Corpsmen. 
[Extracted  from  Navy  pay  tables.] 

Hospital  apprentice,  second  class $20.  90 

Hospital  apprentice,  first  class 26.  40 

Pharmacist's  mate,  third  class 33.00 

Pharmacist's  mate,  second  class 38.  50 

Pharmacist's  mate,  first  class _* 44.  00 

Chief  pharmacist's  mate  (acting  appointment) 66.00 

Chief  pharmacist's  mate  (permanent  appointment) 77.00 

(14) 


The  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Navy. 

ALLOWANCES  FOR  REENLISTMENT. 

In  order  to  obtain  all  the  benefits  of  continuous  service,  a  man  must 
reenlist  within  four  months  after  the  date  of  his  honorable  discharge. 
He  can  reenlist  the  next  day,  or  remain  out  of  service  for  four 
months;  but  if  he  reenlists  within  four  months  he  receives  a  bounty 
of  four  months'  pay  at  the  rate  he  was  paid  on  discharge.  Upon 
reenlistment  his  pay  is  increased  by  $1.50  for  honorable  discharge. 
In  addition,  and  as  a  compensation  for  a  trained  man  and  regard- 
less of  whether  or  not  his  service  is  continuous,  his  pay  is  increased 
by  a  further  sum  of  $5.50  per  month  for  the  first  reenlistment  and 
by  $3.30  per  month  for  each  subsequent  reenlistment. 

Further,  if  he  is  recommended  by  his  captain,  he  is  awarded  a  good- 
conduct  medal  after  the  first  reenlistment  and  a  good-conduct  bar 
on  each  subsequent  reenlistment.  The  holder  of  a  good-conduct 
medal,  pin,  or  bar  is  entitled  to  82  cents  a  month  for  each  medal,  pin, 
or  bar  he  possesses  for  all  his  subsequent  enlistments  that  are  con- 
tinuous. These  payments  accumulate  with  each  enlistment.  Thus 
it  will  be  seen  that  on  second  continuous  enlistment  the  pay  of  any 
rating  or  branch  of  the  service  is  increased  by  $7  per  month ;  on  the 
third  enlistment  the  pay  is  further  increased  by  $5.62,  and  so  on 
through  his  naval  career. 

o 


(15) 


Y.C  105607 


VG-32.0 

A  . 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


